Hatton: Pacquiao should retire 100%

By Chris Williams: Ricky Hatton believes it’s time for Manny Pacquiao to get out of the sport of boxing after his brutal 6th round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December. Hatton saw the knockout and was shocked by it, and he thinks Manny should get out of boxing for the sake of his health and family. Hatton doesn’t think Pacquiao has anything to accomplish at this stage by sticking it out and taking further risks by fighting on.

Hatton said to fighthubtv.com “I felt so bad for Manny and his poor wife. It’s not nice seeing someone knocked out like that. I’d like to see Manny retire now. There’s nothing more he can do. 100 percent [Pacquiao should retire].”

Pacquiao isn’t planning on retiring anytime soon. In fact, he doesn’t want to miss any of his fights in 2013 and is looking to possibly fight in April if a venue can be found in one of the low tax Asian countries like Singapore or Macau. Pacquiao also plans on fighting Marquez again this September, and that’s something you’ve got to really wonder about in terms of the risk involved for Manny.

Marquez has gotten a lot stronger since his third fight with Pacquiao in November 2011, and Pacquiao didn’t look like he could handle Marquez’s new power. Pacquiao hit the deck the only two times Marquez hit him hard, and if the fight had gone another six more rounds, I think Pacquiao would have went down another two or three times.

Hatton seems genuinely concerned about Pacquiao, but what can you do when a fighter refuses to retire? It’s possible Pacquiao will continue to fight on even if he keeps getting knocked out. Hopefully, we won’t see Pacquiao staying around the sport long after he’s lost all of his skills and just taking fights and getting beaten. I imagine Pacquiao will continue to be a draw in his own country of the Philippines, so that if there comes a time when his fights are no longer televised on pay per view or regular cable in the United States, he’ll at least still be able to sell in his own country. It would be really sad if Pacquiao sticks around the sport that long but I have a feeling he will.

In the meantime, I think Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will continue to set him up with rematches with Marquez and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they end up with another four to five fights before the series loses it’s marketability in the U.S and worldwide. As long as the fight is bringing in 1 million PPV buys or more, I see Arum continuing to match Pacquiao against Marquez.